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Can I order a pizza without the beard hair in it ??????

Does Burt's have high chairs for babies? Forgot to ask today when I made our reservation for Saturday.

I'm not saying thoughts like that are off-base when looking at that Tribune photo, but I will say that I have been to Burt's four or five times, and at Pequod several more times than that when he owned it, and never had a beard hair (or any other kind of hair) in my pizza. I think Burt cares too much about his pizza to ever let that happen.

Except that he never actually said that. It was some sort of voodoo audio composite that created those words coming out of his mouth. He was as confused as everyone else when he saw the commercial.

Yes, a couple of those wooden frame ones.

Yeah...just to be clear, I haven't been under any delusion that he said those words. Nevertheless, the phrase was created by someone. Why this phrase was created by someone was the mystery to me. The Tribune article cleared that up. (As did the post by SteveZ in another thread, which Kman helpfully linked to.)

Made my first trip to Burt's Saturday. Thanks to all that has been written, I was able to navigate the process smoothly. The Pizza was very good, and a worthwhile endeavor as we were able to get a pie from someone that does things his own funky way.

For those who have been thinking about trying Burt's, I will caution that another busy period may be on the horizon.

A certain woolly proprietor was very chatty with another table, and mentioned that a camera crew was there last week. They were filming for a certain local PBS show that is known to drive traffic to featured establishments. Could be another spike in business when another accidental publicity event hits the air.

Shocking that it took Check, Please! this long to get to Burt's.

So where's your favorite fish fry?

Wow, Check Please at Burt's. This could be a train wreck.

Not to worry. One of the benefits to Burt's "rules" is we never exceed what we can handle. People call in, place their order for a specific time, and once that time slot is filled, we move on to the next slot. Burt won't take more pizzas than he can handle for any time slot, and we won't overbook the dining room to the point where we can't give you good service. It will only be a "train wreck" for the people who wait too long to call in their order, or just show up without an order, thinking they'll get a table.

From what I understand, the episode runs in late December or early January.

Buddy

Well I guess that was my point. Would they be given enough information to know they had to make a reservation? I mean, if you told me I was going to review a pizza joint that I'd never been to, or likely ever heard of, the last thing I would think about making a reservation. Add in the fact that it's not downtown but instead is in Morton Grove, no chance would ever think about it.

Seriously, on a typical Friday night, how many people do you turn away? I know every time I've been there it seems like you or Sharon are spending more time turning people away than actually serving.

Usually there is one guest who is familiar with the restaurant and hopefully knows the rules.

I think it will be fine but sometimes the CP guests can be a little fussy.

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"Make Lunch, Not War" ~ Anon

I would guess the guests on Check Please will discuss the whole process that is Burts. Much like Schwa half the conversation regarding Burts is about the "process". Except that Burt and Sharon treat everyone like family they haven't seen in awhile, most likely have no idea who Patton Oswalt is but regardless wouldn't bump anyone for anyone else.

For people who know the "reasonably good" times to get a hold of Burt I don't think Check Please will matter much. If it does jam him up for awhile, he's not going anywhere and it makes that first pie and ice cold Great Lakes after a long time between visits so much better.

Just a fine point--more an issue of clearing up the language--we (or at least I) never turn anyone away. I do tell them the truth and let them make up their own mind as to whether to place an order and come back, or, if we have room, get seated immediately, and wait for a pizza. But if it's going to take three hours for us to get a pizza out to a "walk-in", I won't tell them it will just be a half hour and then let them twist in the wind.

I know that sounds like a politician's answer, but we do get a lot of walk-ins that opt for ordering and coming back later that evening. In fact, last Saturday, we had two guys from out of town who knew they wouldn't get another shot, so they bit the bullet: They sat down, ordered, and waited two hours for a pizza. Fortunately, we had a table to spare for that long, and the two guys felt the wait was totally justified once the pie hit their table. The two of them finished off a large pizza--this after knocking off one of our appetizer samplers while they waited.

Also, we do have the rare situation where we can actually take the walk-in and get them a pizza in a reasonable amount of time. It's a total crapshoot, and it hardly ever happens, but if you're lucky enough to get that last minute table and pie, go straight up Ferris to the c-store at the corner on Dempster and buy a lottery ticket, 'cause baby, your luck ain't gonna get any better than that.

The worst walk-in situation is one that is completely not of our making: You get the family of five, including a couple of cranky little kids, who just endured a car ride (in traffic) from Naperville/Antioch/Palos Hills, only to learn "the rules" once they walk in the door. The worst part? We were recommended to them by a close friend who had already been to Burt's and failed to tell them to call ahead. I can just imagine that conversation upon the next meeting with the (ex?) friend. But I won't repeat it here.

Buddy

Jeff, you truly are politician material

But I want to address this:



I don't think any of this is of your (not just you, but collectively) making. The rules make sense. The place probably couldn't operate any other way. It's just out of the ordinary for a pizza place in the burbs. Add in that, not only do you need to make a reservation, you need to pre-order your meal, it's very out of the ordinary.

Hopefully the reviewers are given the heads up and it's not an issue. Either way, it's going to be interesting to see how it shakes out.

midas, as others have said upthread, the individual on the CP panel who recommended Burt's is (presumably) a regular customer who knows how to play the game. The other two, whether they knew in advance or not to place an order, would have found out soon enough upon entering. Either way, I figure that will be a major topic of discussion, specifically for the reasons you've mentioned.

Also, at the end of each review, Alpana Singh always does her summary, which includes location, hours, average price per head, and...whether or not the place takes reservations. If she has any sense of civic duty at all, she will make a point of telling viewers how things work, even if the panel fails to do so.

Buddy

I think the whole segment will be interesting. There's something about every single participant and every single segment on Check Please that I loathe, and I can't even put my finger on it. But it's something about how everything is expressed in generalities (positive or negative), with a set of generic adjectives seemingly being plucked from some larger pool of generic adjectives available to describe every restaurant. (I realize food criticism is hard, which is why I'm not good at it either, but it's painful to watch other people not being good at it.) The entire Burt's experience is so sui generis that I can't even imagine the Check Please brain trust capturing its essence. But I'll be watching.

I can put my finger on it: they should take out every scripted part of the show. It's too formal and formulaic. There's no reason for the nominator to summarize the restaurant. Just go around the table and let everyone talk and then move on to the next restaurant. The videos of the restaurants and chat with the owners reminds me to "channel 1" on a hotel tv - a looping infomercial for local restaurants.

You could do a drinking game around the number of times per show the Check Please participants use the word "fresh".

Hopefully the two panel members who didn't pick the place knew what they were getting into. Of course, if they didn't, they're sure to complain and maybe scare off those who are too faint-of-heart to even try playing the game.

You can also include "amazing".

I find myself occasionally hoping that someone on the show would take the phrase "to die for" literally. Then perhaps we wouldn't hear it so often in subsequent sequences.

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"The fork with two prongs is in use in northern Europe. In England, they’re armed with a steel trident, a fork with three prongs. In France we have a fork with four prongs; it’s the height of civilization." Eugene Briffault (1846)

"Train Wreck"!-Dick

It will be interesting to see if anyone references the famous Seinfeld episode...

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"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home."
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@BuddyRoadhouse: Buddy, I should have ordered the large pizza on Saturday night (Nov. 26) because everyone at our family party ate up my medium deep dish pizza with onions, mushrooms, extra sausage, and extra tomato sauce very quickly. It was the best Burt's pizza I've ever had. The extra sausage and extra tomato sauce was the difference. Both the sausage and the tomato sauce were perfectly herbed/seasoned. Burt's is far and away better than Pequod's in every regard. The mushrooms were perfect, too.

We also carried out from Pizano's, with the exact same order. Everyone at our party agreed that Burt's was the better pizza. Pizano's was also over $ 28 dollars, compared to Burt's price of just over $ 21 dollars. I always felt like I was getting ripped off at Pizano's, but I thought I'd offer our party guests an alternative. The choice was clear. Burt's all the way. Thank you for getting my carry out pizza right at 4:30, too. My wife and kids usually eat in, but this was the first time we ever carried out from Burt's because of our family party that night. The crust held up very well.

You guys are doing a great job there as always. See you in January.

deepdish

You know Buddy, if you guys made it more clear that customers are reserving space in the oven, and not in the restaurant, maybe people would be more understanding. I have heard customers complain that the restaurant was only half filled, yet they were told that it would be a two hour wait for a pizza. If they knew that there was a limited amount of space in the pizza oven, maybe they would not get so confused and outraged. Personally, I have always had pretty good luck stopping into Burt's on my way to go shopping in Niles, then asking Sharon what time I should come back for my Pizza. I then go roaming about Niles (my favorite town for grocery shopping), and return right on time for my pie to be ready. I am always amazed at how perfect the timing is. Just as I pick up the last onion ring from the basket, the pizza appears. The man does have oven utilization down to a science. Hardly a second is wasted.

I do make the effort to explain the true nature of things to our walk-in customers. Trouble is, a lot of them don't wait around to hear it, or if they've driven a long distance only to be disappointed, even though we explain it to them, they're so mad they still don't quite grasp the situation. I think some of them think we get a kick out of tormenting them. Believe me, it pains me tell someone it's going to be several hours for a pizza. If we could somehow magically serve everyone who walks in the door, I could take a very expensive European vacation every summer.

Saturday night was especially crazy. WGN reran the Pizza episode of the syndicated show "America's Best Bites" sometime in the early afternoon. People were actually calling while our segment was on the air. After that, the phones didn't stop. We were completely booked for the night--eat-ins and pick ups-- by 4:00! All the people we turned down last night alone would have paid for a couple of days in Paris.

I just hope the "Check Please" people are good enough to explain the so called "rules" when that episode hits the air in late December/early January.

Buddy

Not sure if it would do any good (especially if they've taped the studio part of the episode already), but maybe contacting The Powers That Be over there to impress upon them the severity of the situation might ensure that the message gets across: info@checkplease.tv

couldnt burt add another oven to feed the demand for his pies?

Take a look at the size of his kitchen next time you're there...

edit: or look 35 seconds in here:

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Ed Fisher
my chicago food photos

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